Q & A
Questions and Answers
We are often asked about some general questions such as how to take care baby's eyes, how to correct kids' nearsightedness, and how keep an adult's eyes from being tired of reading on computer screens. Here we list the answers to such questions in the following categories:
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Common Q&A for the Eye Care of Babies and Kids
1. How often should babies and kids have eye examination? Pediatric eye care is an extremely important part of your child's health care. For instance, the prevalence of amblyopia in US is 2% (2.4-4.8 million). Most of amblyopia could be easily avoided if the child's eyes are checked and corrected before the critical age of seven. It is recommended by The American Optometric Guideline, for developmentally normal kids, that the first eye exam should be done at 6 months of age, the 2nd exam should be 3 years of age. Routine exams starting from 3 years old should then be conducted every one or two years.
2. Can vision screening or a pediatrician exam substitute for a comprehensive eye examination? Many parents think that passing the school vision screening means their child has perfect vision. This is not always correct. The American Optometry Association believes that an eye/vision screening in the public or private schools does not substitute for a professional eye examination. Vision screening is only intended to find severe visual disturbances and does not substitute for a thorough professional exam which corrects and prevents problems with your child's eyes.
Parents also rely on pediatricians, assuming the pediatrician does a thorough vision analysis. But actually pediatricians just check visual acuity (how well the child sees at a distance). It takes a complete eye exam by an eye care professional to get an accurate picture of the child's eye health and vision status.
3. What is amblyopia and how it is treated? Amblyopia (lazy eye) is the loss or lack of the full development of vision in one eye that is not fully correctable with lenses and is not the result of any identifiable eye health problem.
For children, the key to prevent or treat amblyopia is early detection by routine eye examination. About 2% of the American population, namely, around 40 million people, have amblyopia. In fact, if they had been treated before 8 years old, they would have been mostly properly corrected. The causes of amblyopia are usually strbismus, uncorrected high myopia (nearsightedness), high hyperopia (farsightedness), or uncorrected large difference of refractive error between two eyes. If found in time (before 8 years old), these problems can be corrected by wearing corrective lenses or by other treatment. At about 8 years old, the vision system has been fully developed. It is still possible, though much harder, to correct amblyopia after 8 years old.
For young children, patching the good eye may help the amblyopic eye to improve. In addition, vision therapy techniques may be used to help improve vision functions. Eyeglasses or contact lenses may be also prescribed to correct any refractive errors.
4. Why does my kid become myopia (nearsighted)?
There are two possible reasons:
There are two possible reasons:
- Genetic reason: myopia is genetic. If one of the parents is myopia, then the probability of the child having myopia is extremely high. If both parents are myopia, then it's almost guaranteed that the child will have myopia.
- Use and abuse theory: most of the changes in myopia is due to axial length elongation. For instance, the use of computer and reading cause greater near stimulus, which leads to greater "accommodation". When "accommodation" lags behind the forvea, then there is a stimulus for axial length to elongation, which causes myopia. This phenomenon occurs in children at a faster rate that for adults.
5. Should nearsighted kids wear glasses? Nearsighted children need to wear glasses. Proper correction with eye glasses or contact lens can prevent amblyopia, eye strain and headache. It is OK for low myopia children to take off glasses to read and do computer work.
6. How to control the progression of myopia (nearsightedness)? There are two ways to slow down myopia progression:
- Bifocal glasses: Use lower power of minus lens at the bottom of your glasses can relax accommodation and control the stimulus of accommodation, so you can control axial length elongation, which will slow down the myopia progression.
- Contact lens: Full time wearing of RGP (hard contact lens) can greatly slow down the myopia progression. In the myopia control study by Shapiro et al., about 73.4% of contact lens wearers did not change in myopia, and 10% of spectacle wearers (glasses) did not change in myopia. If you intervene with myopia progression earlier, you might be able to decrease it or slow it down by more than 2.00D or 3.00D. The contact lens to some degree has the effect of slowing down axial length elongation.
7. Is Ortho-K /CRT a choice for correction of myopia (nearsightedness)? Ortho-K or CRT is a corneal reshaping therapy which shapes and molds the front of the cornea, and improves your vision while you sleep at night. This procedure is safe and effective and any age group will benefit. This is especially true for people who enjoy sports. There is no healing and no recovery because there is no invasive surgery. This procedure has the added advantage that it is reversible. If you wants to discontinue the process, you only have to quit wearing the lenses. The cornea will then return to its shape in only a few days.
Dr. Gan is a certified CRT (FDA approved) specialist. Please call or e-mail to schedule an appointment for free consultation exam to see if you or your child is a good candidate for this procedure.
Common Q&A for Adults' Eye Care
1. How often should adults have eye examination? Most of the professions nowadays place a high demand on our eyes. For instance, working on computers or reading make your eyes work a lot and can quickly tire your eyes. However, with routine eye examination, correct eye glasses or contact lens, we can avoid a lot of eye strain, headache, and prevent deterioration of our eyes and a lot of eye diseases.
According to The American Optometric Guideline, adults between 20 to 39 yrs old should have eye exam every one to two years. After 39 years old, the crystalline lens of our eyes lose their flexibility, which makes it difficult for focusing on close objects, this condition is called presbyopia. To help you to compensate for presbyopia and to keep good eye health, you should treat its progression with corrective glasses or contact lenses. Since the effects of presbyopia continue to change the ability of the crystalline lens to focus properly, periodic changes in your eye wear may be necessary to maintain clear and comfortable vision. According to American Optometric Guideline, adults of 40 years or older should have eye exam every year.
2. How often should older people have eye examination? Proper eye care is critical for older population. Cataract, Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD), glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy are the most common seen eye diseases in the older population, and a lot of these eye diseases are asymptomatic. Early detection and proper eye care can slow down the progression of cataract and ARMD, and prevent losing vision. Elders should have eye exam every half year or one year. If you have eye disease, your eyes should be checked more frequently.
3. How to make computer use easier on your eyes? Some computer users complain about headaches, dry eyes, blurred vision and other symptoms of eyestrain. According to the American Optometric Association, although there is no evidence that using a computer causes vision problems, it can cause Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). The association offers the following suggestions to eliminate CVS:
- Do a thorough eye exam every year to make sure your vision is properly corrected. Even if you don't need glasses for driving or reading, you still may have a minor vision problem that can be aggravated by computer use. You may need a mild prescription to wear only on the job to reduce vision stress.
- Take alternative task breaks throughout the day. Make phone calls or photocopies, talk with co-workers. Do anything that doesn't require your eyes to focus on something up close.
- Reduce room lighting to half normal office levels. An easy way to do this is to remove half the bulbs from ceiling fixtures. Use desk laps for tasks that require more light.
- Minimize glare on your computer screen with a glare reduction filter (look for one with the American Optometric Association's Seal of Acceptance) by repositioning your screen and by using drapes, shades, or blinds. You can also ask your optometrist about eyeglasses lens tints and coatings that can reduce glare.
- Use an adjustable copy holder to place reference material at the same distance from your eyes as your computer screen and as close to the screen as possible. Your eyes won't have to keep changing focus when looking from one to the other and your won't have to keep moving your head or eyes back and forth.
- Adjust your work area and your computer for your comfort. Most people prefer a work surface height of about 26 inches for computer use. Desks and tables are usually 29 inches high. Place your computer screen 16 to 30 inches from your eyes. The top of the screen should be slightly below horizontal eye level. Tilt the top of the screen away from you at a 10 to 20 degree angle.
- Be sure your glasses meet the demands of your job. If you wear glasses for distance vision, reading, or both, they may not give you the most efficient vision for viewing your computer screen, which is about 20 to 30 inches from your eyes. Tell your optometrist about your job tasks and measure your on-the-job seeing distances.
Following these steps can enhance a person's comfort and productivity when using a computer, the Association says.
Q&A on Our Services
1. What do optometrists do? How to select an eye doctor? Doctors of optometry (optometrists) are primary eye care doctors. The scope of their practice includes: general eye care, vision related problems (including glasses, contact lens, strabismus correction, vision therapy), eye diseases (including eye infection, dry eyes, allergic conjunctivitis, cataract, age related macular degeneration, diabetic and hypertensive retinopathy, glaucoma etc). We specialize on vision related problems.
If you need surgery or have hard to treat eye disease, your optometrist will refer you to an ophthalmologist (M.D.), who is eye surgeon and eye disease specialist.
2. What insurance does Dr. Gan accept? Dr. Gan takes most of vision and medical insurances including the following:
-VSP (Vision Service Plan)
-MES (Medical Eye Service)
-Eyemed
-Davis Vision
-Spectera
-Superior Vision
-Medicare
-Blue Cross PPO
-Blue Shield PPO
-United Health Care PPO
-Health Net PPO
-Atna PPO
-Pacific Care PPO
-MES (Medical Eye Service)
-Eyemed
-Davis Vision
-Spectera
-Superior Vision
-Medicare
-Blue Cross PPO
-Blue Shield PPO
-United Health Care PPO
-Health Net PPO
-Atna PPO
-Pacific Care PPO
You can use your vision insurance when you have eye examination once a year, frames and lens once every two years or once a year depending on your plan. But if you have eye health related problems, your medical insurance covers as many of eye exams as you need.
A lot of people are not sure what vision insurance they have, because most people do not have separate insurance card for their vision plan. If you give us your social security number, birthday and the name of your insurance (you can find out from your Human Resource or coworkers), we can find out the coverage of your vision plan for you. Many people are covered with their and their spouse's insurance so that they often can be combined to give more expensive frames and lenses.